Sports

Sports

Marvan: I don’t know why
‘I have no intentions of curbing the strokes of my batsmen’
Daminda Wijesuriya reporting from Mohali
Everyone is asking what happened? How can we laymen explain when Sri Lanka skipper Marvan Atapattu himself is not able to do so.
"Even we as a team are stunned with the two losses. But we as a team are the only people who can make amends and we have to find solutions" said Marvan Atapattu after the second One Day International thrashing at Mohali on Friday.

Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Times, the skipper went on to say that the team needs confidence and fearlessness to win against a tough opposition like India. "Even for me it's just unbelievable. How can a good side like this to fail in this manner? There may be one bad match or two. But you can't go on like this. If this is to go on, it doesn't give the impression of our actual status" said the skipper.

The disappointment was visible more on the face of the Sri Lankan captain, than in his words. His words went past disappointment to touch some factual reasons behind the two losses. Truly, everybody is disappointed"

"The problem here is we lose the grip as soon as we enter the game. In the first match, we were hammered around 17 runs in the second over. In this match, we lost four wickets in 10 overs. We are just trying to get over it. We are doing every possible thing to stem the rot" Atapattu exclaimed.

At Mohali, it was the downfall of the batsmen on a batting paradise. Atapattu, himself being a top order batsman, frankly accepted that it was his own fault. He did not find excuses. Neither did he run away from the questions.

"If we look back, our batting has not clicked for some time. In my belief, we should win ODI matches with our batting. That's why we prepare batting wickets at home. "I don't think that the batsmen have performed consistently in the past few months and that's a big drawback.

"There are times when some batsmen get around 150 or 200 or so in test matches and big hundreds in ODI’s . and that covers the sins of the others. However here what happened was that even the batsmen who get into track have not built on them " said Atapattu.

“Generally, six or seven batsmen are included in a team but very rarely all of them get runs. Out of those six or seven batsmen, only three or four do the bulk of the scoring. Now everything has changed. The atmosphere, the opposition, bowling pressure and many more things have changed. We are competing against a tough side in a tough place. We are playing in their own backyard. To make matters worse, we've got two bad starts. One from the bowlers and the other from the batsmen.

"Bowlers of course, you can pardon them to a certain extent given the strength of the opposition. When players like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag open the innings, even the good balls are hammered away. But how can you justify losing four wickets in 10 overs?" Atapattu questioned?. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Sri Lanka kept a run rate of 4.4 in the first ten overs. Asked whether it was their inclination to keep to a healthy run rate which ultimately resulted them in playing loose strokes, Atapattu said: "That it self (the run rate) shows how good the wicket was. Everybody went to the middle and started middling the ball, but at the same time they also got out. How can you explain that?

“It was bad luck for Sanath Jayasuriya. It’s a matter of a decision that one has to make in hundredths of a second to play his trademark flashing drive over cover point off Pathan. The master and the maker of this spectacular stroke got it wrong at Mohali as he was caught at the third man boundary. Even in the 1996 world Cup semi-finals, Jayasuriya got out in the same manner. But this is the stroke that he makes most of his runs and there is an element of risk involved. However I have no intentions of curbing the strokes of my batsmen. If he is good at it, let him play that shot. May be off the first ball.

"That's why he has become Sanath Jayasuriya and those are the characteristics of each individual. We need people like that and that is why we have included such players in this team. "We all have to do one thing and that is to play fearlessly and without any hesitation. It's very evident when the Indians are batting. "They just come and hit out. Even when the ball takes the aerial route it falls in no man's land. Therefore the only thing we can do is to have confidence in our selves and go forward"

"I think we must forget these two matches and carry on with a confident frame of mind" concluded Atapattu. In the meantime, Indian captain Rahul Dravid clearly said that Sri Lanka would bounce back. Replying to one of the Indian scribe's questions, Dravid said that just because India won two games convincingly it doesn't mean that there is a big gap between the two sides.

“I think Sri Lanka is a very good side. They have got number two spot in the world rankings and we suffered badly against them just few months ago".
"I don't think any one in the dressing room would take them lightly. We are a young side and we had a couple of good games. I am sure they've been in situations like this before and I am sure they will bounce back" Dravid said.
Sri Lanka plays the third ODI at Jaipur tomorrow (31stOctober)

Top